Modern Art: Avant-Garde to Contemporary

Undergraduate credit

This course surveys the work of major 20th century European and American artists with a focus on two fundamental issues. First, we consider the way in which avant-garde artists have repeatedly interrogated the nature of signification itself, or in other words, how form produces meaning. Second, we explore the avant-garde's ambitious but theoretically controversial relationship to revolutionary politics. The course is designed to help students develop the vocabulary as well as analytical and visual tools necessary in dealing with the great diversity of works and critical debates that constitute the history of 20th century art.